Tick Tock On The Clockwork
by newbienovelistRD
Summary: Rachel hides from the Forever Knight in the abandoned watch factory, the home of a territorial time alien!


**Another request from GoldGuardian2418, enjoy!**

"Come on, science geek. Ya scared or something?" Bethany spat.

Rachel swallowed hard as she stared at the old watch factory. It used to make the best watches around, but now everyone's been using digital clocks and phone watches, so the factory closed for years. But for some reason, it was never torn down.

The last time Rachel was dared to enter a creepy looking place, she met her friend Way Big, an alien the size of Cleveland. But what if something was inside and it wasn't so friendly? But what could be lurking in a clock factory?

She turned to Bethany and Stephanie, who were smugly waiting for a reply. Rachel didn't know what to do, she didn't want them to think she was chicken, but she didn't want to risk meeting an unearthly creature behind those walls.

"We'll take it from here."

Rachel gasped, Bethany and Stephanie turned, there were three forever knights armed with laser lances.

Stephanie snorted. "What's this? You guys on loan from King Arthur's court?"

The knights said nothing, they let their lasers do the talking and blasted the two girls, they fall to the gravel in pain.

Rachel ran inside the factory while the knights gave chase.

As Rachel ran through the factory, she was amazed by all the old gears and equipment lying around the place, it was like she stepped into another place in time.

Rachel hid behind an old machine of some kind, she had to dial Rook or someone for help, but to her dismay, her phone was dead.

She heard the knights' metal footsteps come closer and closer, Rachel held her breath and covered her mouth, expecting the worst.

"WHO DARES ENTER MY DOMAIN?" a voice boomed through the factory.

Before Rachel knew it, she saw a flash of green and heard the cries of those knights. Rachel nervously peeked from her hiding spot, she gasped and her eyes widened in horror.

The knights were crumpled on the ground, their armor was rusty and cracked, a knight's helmet came off, Rachel screamed. His face was that of an old man.

Rachel backed away, but bumped into something hard, she turned around and couldn't believe what she was seeing.

It was a large robot made with a brass-like metal with a window on it's chest, revealing it's innards, which were various green gears.

"What are you doing here?" the robot demanded, he had a thick German accent.

Rachel struggled to find her voice.

"ANSWER ME!" he roared, reaching for Rachel.

Not wanting to be aged into dust, Rachel got up and backed away from him. She picked up a rusty, old wrench off the ground.

"Stay away from me!" And she threw the wrench at him, striking the rotor on his head. The impact made a sound similar to the tolling of Big Ben. The robot wobbled, disoriented before he collapsed.

Rachel took the chance and ran for it. Something fell from her jacket pocket.

The robot felt his head. "Ugh, she does have quite the arm..." he groaned. Miffed, he got up, ready to fire a time ray at Rachel, then he spotted the object Rachel dropped.

The second he saw it, he stopped what he was doing, picked up the object and ran after Rachel.

The robot began to tire and realized Rachel was too fast for him. He held his arms out and turned the winch on his head, slowing down time.

Rachel looked back and saw he was not there. She turned and smacked face first into the robot. Rachel ran the other way, but the robot was there, she tried another way, but he was already there. Every way she turned, he was there.

Finally, the robot got the jump on Rachel and pinned her down.

"Please, don't hurt me!" Rachel begged for her life. "I just want to go home! Those knights were trying to attack me! Please!"

The robot got closer to better examine her, when he did,

"Stella?!" he gasped. "Is that you?!" He got off her and put a hand to Rachel's cheek. "I don't believe it, you haven't aged a day..."

Rachel tried to piece together what was going on here.

The robot took out what Rachel dropped. It was a golden antique pocket watch.

Rachel was then hit with realization. "My watch! Wait a minute, that's why you think I'm Stella!"

The robot cocked his head back. "What do you mean, Stella?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, I'm not Stella. I'm her granddaughter, Rachel."

"Granddaughter?! Then why do you have her watch?"

"She gave it to me before she past away."

The robot had a look of agony on his face. "Stella...past away?"

"But what I want to know is who you are and how do you know my grandma?" Rachel inquired.

"Alright," he sighed. "My name is Clockwork. Many years ago, I crash landed on this planet after my ship was destroyed. I wanted to leave, but one person changed all that. Stella took me in and we worked together making clocks and watches in this factory."

His frown grew. "But after she got married and had to move away, she left the factory in my care. But when it shut down, I couldn't bear to leave it..." his voice trembled.

Rachel could feel his pain. She put an arm around him. "Please don't be sad, Clockwork. I know my grandma isn't with us anymore. But it's her love inside you that helps you move on in life. Not haunt a factory and aging people."

Clockwork turned to her, surprised. "Wise words, indeed." He wrapped his arms around her, the two shared a loving hug.

"Thank you, Rachel." Clockwork said, breaking the hug. He held up the watch. "Here you go, sorry about that. I feel silly that I thought you were-"

He paused, he saw the watch swing back and forth as Rachel's eyes followed it.

Clockwork smiled to himself and lowered his voice. "Follow the watch, Rachel. You are getting sleepy..."

Rachel burst out laughing. "Are you actually trying to hypnotize me?" She took the watch out of his hand.

He shrugged. "Well, you were watching the watch. So I thought I'd go along with it." They both laughed.

"But still," Clockwork sighed. "It's amazing how much you're like Stella." He blinked. "I wonder..."

Suddenly, Clockwork pinned Rachel to the ground again.

"Hey! What are you- Ahahahahaha! W-What are you doing?! Hahahahahahaha!" Rachel gasped as the alien began to mercilessly tickle her stomach.

"I knew it!" Clockwork chuckled. "You even have the same tickle spot!"

"C-Clohahahahackwork! Stahahahap!" Rachel begged.

"Kootchie Kootchie Koo!" Clockwork teased. Rachel laughed even harder.

After five minutes of tickling, Clockwork stopped. He let go of Rachel, who was catching her breath.

"Clockwork, what do you think? You want to come along with me?" Rachel asked. "You could use a friend or two. And you'll never feel alone."

"Absolutely." the clock-like alien agreed. "But let's walk. I've had enough running for today."


End file.
